At only 200km this is the shortest of the Ardennes, it also has the least hills, however this just means that the speed is higher and on this pristene day all three key favourites have something to prove. Frank Schleck attacked far too late and despite finishing fast he could only take 7th last time, improvement will be demanded from his manager. Cunego will have watched Amstel and made his plans, will the rest pay off or will this be another disappointment for his weakened squad. Valverde took 9th in Amstel and he will also be looking for a much better showing today.
Then there are the men in form, Sanchez Gonzalez, Trofimoiv, Bakelants (who now that he is home should be even better) and most of all Hagen. It sounds like this should be a good race, so lets get it underway
Break one is chased down by the La Gazzetta, clearly inspired by the return of Cunego
We get a break of nine formed fairly quickly though: Reihs, Aulas, Martinez de Esteban, Faires, Cardoso, Perez Fernandez, Ardila Cano, Kvist and Brizuela
Up Muur du Huy mark 1 they have 5 minutes
and when we go up it again the gap is now 6 minutes, we are now half way through the race
with 80km to go, most of it flat, Visconti kicks off.
The peleton control's his lead and continues slowly reeling in the break
And when, 40km after attacking, Visconti is pulled back, the breaks lead is down to 4 minutes
And on the Bohissau, fresh from 13th in Amstel Gold, Vanendert gives the home crowds something to cheer about
As the road flattens Rodriguez Oliver goes after him
However he soon gives up
Vanendert rides past most of the break, finiding himself with Faires 50 seconds behind Ardila Cano
At the bottom of the Cote de Ben-Ahim the peleton is only 30 seconds behind Vanendert, who is now in the lead, 15km to go
Van Garderen attacks, with Sinkewitz going after him
Sanchez Gonzalez and Pauriol also attack
And Van Garderen catches Vanendert
as do the other two
On the crest of the hill Trofimov, Valverde and Bakelants go after them
And with 10km left we have a lead 7, with the peleton 45 seconds behind
Round that bend, disaster, as Trofimov goes down.
Ulissi is next and riding hard trying to catch the leaders
Anza and Weening are also attacking
On the downhill Ulissi catches the leaders but the peleton is very close.
And an excellent decent by Iglinski means we are all together again.
There's no waiting for the final climb though as Gesink attacks with 5km to go
Cunego goes with him
Vesuvio are left to do the chasing and Iglinski seems to have run out of energy, so Vanendert tries again
Giling and Maisto attack as we hit the bottom of the Huy, 2.3km to go for the peleton.
Up front Cunego has moved past Gesink and is pushing on, he has 40 seconds on the peleton, it's between these two riders now.
B&O are now on the front, trying to control the advantage the three attacks get, as Maisto and Giling were pulled back
Up ahead Gesink is struggling as Cunego pulls out a large gap
With 1.5km to go Spilak kicks off the sprint, he is the best placed leader by a long way
He immediately starts closing on Vanendert, Gesink may be catchable, but Cunego seems to have wrapped this up. Grivko and Anza are following Spilak
Spilak pulls past Vanendert and sets his sights on Cunego
With 500m to go Vanendert is pulled back into the peleton, Sanchez Gil, Trofimov and Schleck are now at the front.
Cunego takes a great victory here today, La Gazzetta definitely missed a trick not having him at Amstel Gold.
Gesink just holds on to 2nd ahead of Spilak, both of them will be overjoyed with this result
The rest of the top ten is very tight, Sanchez Gil, Schleck, Trofmov, Anza, Valverde and Hagen are all up there, though we'll have to wait till the official results to have their positions confirmed.
There is no doubt about the winner today, as Damiano Cunego timed his move to perfection.
